HAKAI playground

[Charlie1]

I think the opposite. In clip number 2 they are clearer, I can hear each nuance more easily. But they tell me less musically.

What's weird is that I've almost decided my preference during the initial shake of maracas.

[matthias]

There is a certain magic with clip 1 for me.

Matt

[Charlie1]

Just as I was finishing dinner last night this track came on. Since it was perfect for the day, a great piece of music and also sounded so good on my J3455 HAKAI I thought I'd record a bit of it for all of you. No comparison, just good music.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2bcgbkm6v1gag ... 7.MOV?dl=0

Not really my cup of tea but I can tell its sounding lovely despite that.

[Sopper]

2 clips from me again.
Difference between RME ADI-2 Dac and ESI Gigaport HD+ dac.
Especially noticeable @ 1:26 in the clips

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pgshbu2lsm4in ... 2.MOV?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wvz74xp8i2m0p ... 5.MOV?dl=0

3 votes for clip 1 - ESI Gigaport HD+
5 votes for clip 2 (me included) - RME ADI-2, slow filter

[tokenbrit]

.. I've almost decided my preference during the initial shake of maracas.

Premature evaluation? :)

[tokenbrit]

2 clips from me again.
Difference between RME ADI-2 Dac and ESI Gigaport HD+ dac.
Especially noticeable @ 1:26 in the clips

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pgshbu2lsm4in ... 2.MOV?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wvz74xp8i2m0p ... 5.MOV?dl=0

3 votes for clip 1 - ESI Gigaport HD+
5 votes for clip 2 (me included) - RME ADI-2, slow filter

Listening again on laptop (browser) instead of phone (dropbox app) changes the result for me - now I am less seduced by what had appeared to be better musical expression in 2; find myself enjoying the musical interplay more in 1, on the laptop.

[ThomasOK]

I listened a bit earlier today but was interrupted by pesky customers so I was unable to comment until now. I just went back and forth a few more times as I did feel they were both good. I wanted to listen on my iPhone too but I find I left my earpods at home. I find clip 2 a bit more vivid but overall I prefer clip 1, it just seems to flow better and I hear a bit more emotion in the voice and what sounds like a better touch on the bass.

[Charlie1]

Premature evaluation? :)

:)

[Spannko]

I think the opposite. In clip number 2 they are clearer, I can hear each nuance more easily. But they tell me less musically.

What's weird is that I've almost decided my preference during the initial shake of maracas.

Don’t you just love the way they shake their maracas ! :)

[Spannko]

.. I've almost decided my preference during the initial shake of maracas.

Premature evaluation? :)

Ha ha. Very funny! This gets my vote for post of the day!

[Sopper]

2 more clips

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fxtovlp6kh84g ... 0.MOV?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/48orhqsrvxpyc ... 6.MOV?dl=0

[tokenbrit]

Slight preference for 2 (7656)

[Sopper]

Slight preference for 2 (7656)

I guess it’s a hard one this time; you’re the only one so far.
I found it really difficult to hear any difference

[Charlie1]

Definite preference for 2. With 1, my mind is getting frustrated by how the notes struggle to get out, like they are stuck in glue.

[beck]

I find it quite easy to hear a difference and prefer the second clip.

[ThomasOK]

Yep, I enjoy the second clip more as well. They are both good so I listened several times to each but always found myself getting more involved in clip 2.

[ThomasOK]

This has been stated here and there many times before but I doubt it can be mentioned enough. It is amazing how much more accessible a tuneful system makes music. I had not heard this Ane Brun piece before and didn't know who it was. I had to do some searching based on the lyrics to find it but after hearing the clip on here I wanted to hear the rest of it. I found the track on youtube and was totally underwhelmed. The tremolo in her voice sounded trite, the guitar was flat and unimpressive, when the other voices came in it was a mess. I just really didn't care for it. I came back here and listened to the second clip and the voice has expression and emotion, the guitar has beautiful tone and dynamics, the chorus was great - just a lovely piece of music.

I think this is one of the great disasters of our digital age. There is hardly anywhere to hear good new music. At least in the US most of the radio stations are owned by big conglomerates and they are just looking for the most advertising dollars so they mostly play the same worn out garbage all the time: "classic rock" which seems to skip bands like The Who, the Stones, the Yardbirds, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, the Kinks, etc. in favor of Foreigner, Kiss, Toto, Boston, the Eagles, etc., "country" which also ignores the real country musicians and plays what is more like country-pop, R&B stations also ignoring all the classic players, religious broadcasting, etc. Long gone are the days when there were radio stations that played an eclectic mix of music that only had one requisite - it had to be good. Now we have the streaming media sources and youtube being the biggest music source for most people. With the poor quality of the compressed music mostly on offer you have a hard time getting a feel for how good the music sounds, even if they did bother to make available the worthwhile music out there, which is often hard to find. In the end I find most good new music by taking a chance on a good review (always chancy in my experience) and recommendations from customers and cohorts. I believe there is nowhere near as much good music coming out now as there was in the50s, 60s and early 70s, but I am equally sure that there is stuff I am missing because of the money-grubbing culture of the big music industry. End of rant!

[Tendaberry]

You're quite right about ranting though, Tom. Even if it's off topic. Radio here in Germany is an absolute disaster. Even in a large city like Hamburg, there's only one radio station, that plays new, good music and where you can actually be surprised by the next song. Most stations stick to the tired formula "The best of the 80's and 90's and some new hits" Predictable as hell and great artists like the Stones or Neil Young are reduced to two or three songs, which are played every day. Whereas others, like Curtis Mayfield, Tim Buckley or Joni Mitchell simply aren't played at all, even on "Classic Rock/Oldies" stations.

[Charlie1]

I had not heard this Ane Brun piece before and didn't know who it was. I had to do some searching based on the lyrics to find it but after hearing the clip on here I wanted to hear the rest of it.

I really like that track too - I think it's my favourite of hers. It's a good album and was released on LP. My wife and I saw her perform in London a few years ago and she was excellent.

I know what you mean about the radio. It's depressing. We have the various BBC stations, which helps, but otherwise commercial radio in the UK sounds very similar to the US.

EDIT: Actually, I've just remembered, a BBC2 DJ did play Ane Brun's 'Treehouse Song' one Saturday afternoon a year or so ago, so not all bad.

[lejonklou]

Clip two is clearly better to me.

Great track!

And I agree with Thomas' rant. This was one of the major headaches of the streamer project - that while the world moved towards Spotify, Tidal, etc., a really rewarding musical experience, one that could move you to tears on the first listen to a previously unknown song, turned out to depend on the entire chain from storage to reproduction being carefully optimised and controlled. That's not what the crowd seems to want. They'd prefer to play a youtube clip off their phone and get the whole experience. But that's not how it works.

[Sopper]

Clip 1 = RME Adi-2 dac with Fast filter
Clip 2 = ESI Gigaport HD+

[matthias]

Clip 1 = RME Adi-2 dac with Fast filter
Clip 2 = ESI Gigaport HD+

Wow!
So for me the ESI seems to outperform the RME even with Slow filter.

Matt

[Sopper]

Clip 1 = RME Adi-2 dac with Fast filter
Clip 2 = ESI Gigaport HD+

Wow!
So for me the ESI seems to outperform the RME even with Slow filter.

Matt

Fast filter used this time

[matthias]

Clip 1 = RME Adi-2 dac with Fast filter
Clip 2 = ESI Gigaport HD+

Wow!
So for me the ESI seems to outperform the RME even with Slow filter.

Fast filter used this time

Yes, but I voted for ESI in the first pair vs RME Slow.

Matt

[Spannko]

I agree with everyone too: lovely piece of music on video 2

@Thomas

Have you tried Radio Paradise?

Here’s their entire playlist and how many times a band has been played in the last month.

https://new.radioparadise.com/music/artists/artist/asc

It’s a long list, so I’ve extracted the bands that you mentioned.

Jethro Tull. 44 plays last month, chosen from 29 songs on the playlist.
Pink floyd. 60, 54
The Who. 37, 20
Stones. 97, 52
Kinks.33, 27
The Yardbirds. 5, 6
Ane Brun. 13, 10

Foreigner 0, 1
Kiss 0, 0
Toto 0,0
Boston 0, 0
Eagles 3, 27

So that’s 289 tracks from the bands you like and 3 tracks from the eagles. No adverts or boring DJ’s.

I’d also recommend SR2 Varlden (Swedish Radio 2 World music feed). They play a fantastic mix of non pop music from around the world. Nearly everything is really well recorded with a natural dynamic range, no adverts or boring DJ’s either!